My name is Dewn. Well, not really - but that's one of my (many) nicknames. My real name is Natasha. Tash. Nat. Tashy. Anything within reason really. I've certainly had some interesting variations on my name over the years. There was a patient once who, for 4 years, called me Claire. To this day, when she sees me on the street, still calls me Claire... and then there was the boys at the Fire Station... for almost 2 years they called me Natalie... I gave up and they just kept it at Nat. So, really, anything goes!
I'm a Mum. I have a delightful, terrifying, loving, irritating, magnificent, 3 and a half year old daughter whom we shall refer to as DD. What does DD stand for? Well, it could be Dear Daughter, Delightful Daughter, Devil's Daughter, Dangerous Daughter... the list is kind of endless isn't it? ;) But really, she is great. The best thing I've ever done.
My leading man (my husband) we will refer to as DH. If I revealed his real identity on here, he'd kick a stink due to his line of work. Party Pooper. Hmmm.... shall I call him PP? No, DH is probably more fitting. We shall say DH stands for "Dear Husband"... although it could just as easily be "Devil's Horns", "Dangerously Horrid", "Dumb Head"... again, the options are endless!
In the real world I'm a nurse at a major public hospital in Victoria., Australia. I work in a Day Procedures Clinic which itself can provide much amusement, stress, amazement, tears, and laughter.
I'm going to use this blog to track my life a little. My weight loss goals, fitness goals, career goals - all of which I will outline shortly. In the past I have used a blog on a parenting website to document my weightloss and (apparently) it inspired a few people to follow suit. This isn't meant to inspire so much but to prove to people that if I can do what I do, so can anyone else. Really, it's not rocket science - just hard work!
So, I'm around 108Kg. I'm about 173cm tall. When I started my weight loss journey in April 2009, I was around 116Kg. I lost the first 5Kg quickly. Then I sustained a back injury. Well, more to the point, we discovered the back injury.
Although I can pinpoint an exact point in time that generated the pain last year, it has been accumulating over many years. The end result is compressed discs at L4/L5 and L5/S1. In lamens terms, the bottom two discs in your spine. The compressing is worse on the left side and often touches nerve at the L5/S1 location. It makes things very uncomfortable. But the warning signs were there for a couple of months before the big incident. I was getting altered sensation in my left leg when I ran and only when I ran. The pain was never in the same spot two sessions straight. I was seeing an osteo for a shoulder injury and she worked on my leg. After the big incident, I finally saw my GP who sent me off for a CT... the results were not great. But, with slow and persistent work with my personal trainer, I recovered well. It took a long long time to be able to do things like twist and bend and, eventually, run. But I got back to it. My running was never brilliant. I never lasted more than a minute for fear of the pain returning. But I WAS running.
When I started my journey in 2009, I hated the idea of exercising in public. The thought of exercise terrified me. Odd considering I used to love it. Having trained up to 6 days a week pre-DD. Now it made me want to curl into a ball under the table and rock back and forth... but training with Dale changed that. He's worked with me and on me and helped me to love exercise again. He doesn't know it, but he's also inspired me to want to change my career. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE nursing. I am very passionate about it. But I'm also passionate about fitness and helping people to look after their health. And so I want to do my Cert 3 and 4 in Fitness. Become a personal trainer. But first, I need to rehabilitate this injury and lose the weight... I've been thinking of business names, ideas, locations, marketing - my poor family has had enough of it! LOL.
Then around 2 months ago I saw an event advertised on the work intranet. The Eureka Stair Climb. 88 floors, 1624 stairs, 300m vertical climb. I thought it would be a great test of my rehabilitation and fitness. Was I up to it? I'd not done any significant leg work since my injury last year, instead focusing on my core and upper body. But my medical team thought I was good for it and my personal trainer supported my decision. So I started training for it. Together, my trainer and I devised a safe training program which I followed to the letter. I was doing great! Coping well with no soreness that wasn't DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). I was thrilled! My only disappointment was my lack of weight loss. Many of my friends were supportive of the climb. A girl at work even signed up to do it as well! My parents were encouraging.
But, two weeks and 1 day from the event, things went wrong. Very wrong. I did a minor training session at home and struggled the whole time. I put it down to fatigue after a busy day at work. The next morning I woke sorer than normal. My left leg struggled with power and pain to the thigh. I thought it was my disc hitting nerve so didn't push much that day. I used all my old tricks from my injury. I went to bed that night feeling good. Sunday morning I woke stiff. Nothing new. I took my usual meds (Panadol Osteo and Mobic - I have arthritis in hip and back now). I showered after breakfast and couldn't put my trousers on. Crap. I couldn't lift my left leg without extreme pain to my thigh and abdominal muscles. I hobbled out to the lounge room after wrestling on my clothes and told DH I was having a relapse. I spent the day on the couch praying rest would have me mobile by the next day. Thank goodness it was a long weekend and I didn't have to work the next day. By the end of the day, I couldn't go from laying to sitting or sitting to standing without tears despite kick ass pain meds. I fought the panic building in my chest. 2 weeks to race day. This couldn't be happening!
Monday, I woke a little better. I could at least get dressed even if I couldn't lift my left leg. I had to get my car serviced and spent 2.5 hours sitting at the mechanics. In hindsight, this was the worst thing I could have done. By the end I was almost crying in pain. But DH wanted to spend some couple time together whilst DD was in creche - so we went to a movie. By the end I could barely stand let alone walk. How I drove home, I don't know! I rang a physio hoping they could fit me in. Which he did. L was a godsend. 45 min of massage, traction, heat therapy, and accupuncture had my pain from 9/10 to about 6/10. He said I should be a lot better by the next day but I should reconsider the climb. NOOOOOOOOOO!
Tuesday I woke and could lift my leg to a 90 degree angle! HOORAY! Sure it hurt but it hurt a lot less! I could kind of walk! But more than 10 steps made me want to throw up. So, another day resting and dosed up on kick ass pain meds. Made the reluctant decision to definitely cancel the climb :(
Wed I had to go back to work. The only reason you don't show up for that shift is if you're dead. Luckily I was in admissions all day and spent 98% of the day seated. I could barely walk. And I couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes without falling. I negotiated with the in charge to alter my shift for Thursday to be sitting again and to have Friday off. I discovered when putting patients walking sticks away, that they made walking much more comfortable. Food for thought. After work on Wed, I went back to physio who did more work. And suggested I use a walking stick. Ahhhhh as comfortable as it was - only old people use walking sticks! I'm only 29!!!
Thursday I woke sore. I dreaded the day ahead. My boss was back from sick leave and gave me grief over my relapse. She demanded a "return to work certificate" which annoyed me as it isn't a workplace injury. After talking with HR, we agreed on a PITH or something. Basically, being managed by the return to work co-ordinator whilst my injury is bad. Once I'm back on normal duties they go away. I hurt. I struggled through the day. I reluctantly made an appointment to see my GP after work. He thought my injury was mostle muscular but sent me for another CT just in case it wasn't. Not what I wanted to hear. He wanted me on light duties at work but I told him that meant me making another appointment to see him... we agreed he'd write me one for normal duties. This would get everyone off my back.
Friday I woke better than the day before. I was thrilled that every day had me feeling better! I saw physio at noon and he said I needed to be on light duties to be assessed week by week. BUGGER! I rang my boss. She was not happy. Long story short, he wrote a detailed letter and faxed it to my boss. I got a phone call saying not to come in Monday (today). Joy. 5 day weekend is a plus. The fact I have no sick leave and need to use my annual leave is a negative. But, so be it if it means I can rid myself of this pain and injury. Friday afternoon I had CT (waiting for results). Friday night DH decided to take the family away for the night to get my mind off things (all together now.... awwwwwwwwww). except I was in so much pain we ordered room service for dinner and I went to bed!
Saturday I woke with less pain again. HOORAY! But DH wanted to go to a major shopping centre. *groan*. The physio had said I can't walk more than 300m and DH wants me to do WHAT?! I reluctantly agreed so long as we took regular breaks.... guess what didn't happen? The upside was I held up surprisingly well whilst there. The down side was by that night I had slid back two days in progress. Awesome.
Sunday, a day of pottering around the house. Sore as all hell. Wanting to kick DH for the day before. But that wouldn't be nice... so I took my pain meds and sucked it up. And made him cook dinner ;)
Monday - today. I woke sore. Not too bad but sorer than I'd like. Physio tomorrow and hopefully PT as well. Physio wants me back into it - it will help my leg apparently. How? by making it fall off?! No, that's unfair. I know it will help. The last 18 months has shown me that if I go more than 3 days without training, I get sore and stiff. So to go this long is killing me psychologically. Pain wise it hasn't hurt me because of the pain of my injury. But I don't want to leave it too long... I've copped a lot of flak at work for being injured. Everyone assumes it is because of my training for the climb. The reality is, whilst they don't yet know WHAT caused this - my physio is adamant it wasn't caused by my training. More likely I've nipped a nerve which has caused everything to spasm and contract. Painfully. Plus I've slightly bulged the disc again.
So, now we're all caught up - well, sort of - lets move forward together. Because, you know what? I've come back from injury before... and I can do it again!
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